Chapter 7

Qing Mengzhu stayed where he was and asked a few more questions, soon getting the answer.

The young people were agricultural students from Tengcheng Agricultural University, out on the weekend to catch insects and collect plants for specimens.

Qing Mengzhu had a good impression of them, so he talked with them a little longer.

Both sides had things to do, so they parted soon after chatting.

Qing Mengzhu headed up the mountain, while the young people wandered around nearby.

It had rained quite a bit lately, and there were plenty of mushrooms.

Qing Mengzhu picked every mushroom he came across and scanned them with the Interstellar Mall. He put the tasty, nonpoisonous ones in his basket and tossed the unpalatable or poisonous ones straight into his back basket.

With the Interstellar Mall helping him identify them, he worked very efficiently.

Qing Mengzhu used a stick to push through the bushes, often uncovering a whole patch of mushrooms with a single sweep. His back basket was soon half full.

Besides mushrooms, he found a few wild Chinese toon trees in the mountains.

It was just the season for harvesting Chinese toon shoots, so he didn't pass them up. Unfortunately, though, the Interstellar Mall didn't offer a higher price for them than for other wild vegetables.

Qing Mengzhu planned to sell them to the village's small supermarket later. In the real world, wild Chinese toon fetched a much higher price than ordinary wild vegetables.

Besides Chinese toon, Qing Mengzhu also found some bamboo shoots. They were all wild, including both moso and water bamboo shoots.

To make them easier to carry back, he peeled off all their outer husks, trimmed the bases, and put them in his back basket.

The bamboo shoots could also be dried and sold to the Interstellar Mall along with the rest.

After spending most of the day in the mountains, Qing Mengzhu ran into the group of students again on his way down.

The students were quite outgoing. Seeing Qing Mengzhu, whom they had met earlier, they ran over happily to see what he had.

"Hey, handsome, are you back from picking mushrooms?"

"You picked so many mushrooms! And Chinese toon and bamboo shoots too? There really is a lot to gather in the mountains, huh?"

"Oh, the mushrooms in the basket are so pretty!"

The mushrooms Qing Mengzhu had put in the basket were all for him to eat. Their caps were just about to open, and the little mushrooms were plump and unblemished. They looked like the mushrooms in a fairy-tale book, and were indeed a delightful sight.

He held the basket up for the students to see. "They're all right."

"Not just all right, they're fantastic! You're so fast at picking mushrooms, and they're such good ones!"

The smile on Qing Mengzhu's face grew wider. He didn't have to examine the mushrooms closely to see whether they were poisonous; he could simply scan them with the Interstellar Mall after picking them, so he really was efficient. "Do you need mushrooms for specimens? Want me to give you some?"

"Wow, can we?!"

Seeing the eagerness on the students' faces, Qing Mengzhu nodded. "Sure. There are so many mushrooms that I can't eat them all anyway."

"Then I want that pale yellow one. It's so pretty!"

"I'd like the one with a little red around the edge of its cap!"

Qing Mengzhu handed the basket to the students and let them choose the mushrooms they wanted.

The students showed great restraint, each choosing only one or two. Like picking out pretty seashells, they were all choosing them as keepsakes.

As they picked, they chatted and exchanged names.

When they heard that Qing Mengzhu had returned to his hometown to farm, the students were delighted and surprised. They said they had experimental fields too, and grew lotus in them!

Qing Mengzhu deliberately steered the conversation toward growing lotus. "The lotus I planted is different from all the other varieties on the market. I heard it's a very special variety."

The students immediately grew curious:

"How special? It's probably a local variety, right?"

"There are so many lotus varieties, and lotus has been grown here for so long. A lot of them have already been crossbred, so it's hard to say."

"Brother Mengzhu, do you have any photos? We grow lotus varieties bred by our school. Can we see yours?"

Qing Mengzhu had been waiting for them to ask. As soon as they did, he pulled out his phone and showed them the newly sprouted lotus.

Unfortunately, the lotus plants were too small, and the students couldn't identify the variety.

Qing Mengzhu took the opportunity to ask them to recommend a testing institution. He said he wanted to have the batch of lotus tested so he could plan how to grow it based on its variety, and that he didn't mind if the testing fee was a little expensive.

The students agreed to ask around for him when they got back.

They all added each other on WeChat.

Perhaps because they had taken his mushrooms, or perhaps because they took their promises seriously, the students asked their teacher after returning and recommended an institution called the "Ministry of Agriculture Quality and Safety Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center for Agricultural Products and Genetically Modified Products (Vine City)."

Following the students' recommendation, Qing Mengzhu contacted the institution and, after speaking with its staff, purchased a fairly comprehensive testing package.

Early the next morning, Qing Mengzhu sent five of the lotus seeds he had set aside, along with five seedlings, by same-day courier.

The institution accepted samples submitted by private individuals, but its prices were steep. The testing package he had chosen cost 5,500 yuan.

Qing Mengzhu paid despite the pain of spending so much. He needed to know whether the lotus seeds obtained from the Interstellar Mall were truly safe and whether they would affect the environment.

If they were safe, he would work hard to earn Star Coins and buy seeds or seedlings from the Interstellar Mall.

If they posed a risk, he would give up on the Interstellar Mall and stop using the app.

Chapter 7

Qing Mengzhu decided to grow chili peppers and arranged for a worker to come plow the field.

This time, he had to wait for an opening. The worker scheduled his family's field for two days later.

There was plenty to do before plowing, such as repairing the field ridges, clearing weeds, and killing insect eggs, so Qing Mengzhu was soon busy.

That day, Qing Mengzhu was weeding a field ridge when Tan Wenlei, who had finished tending his vegetables nearby, strolled over. "Didn't go up the mountain to pick mushrooms today? The mushrooms in the mountains seem to be growing well lately. You should be able to pick quite a few up there."

Qing Mengzhu straightened up to chat with him. "I went early this morning and came back when the sun came out."

There were indeed plenty of mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and the like in the mountains. Over the past two days, he had earned more than ten Star Coins, enough for three prize draws, and he was quite pleased.

Tan Wenlei stood beside him, leaning on his hoe. "I thought so. You go into the mountains every day, so I wondered why you hadn't gone today."

Qing Mengzhu smiled, then lowered his head and continued weeding.

Seeing that he had stopped talking, Tan Wenlei found another topic. "Speaking of which, aren't you signing a contract with Hongda or the Public Benefit Community Association? I saw that their planting plans for this year have already been finalized, but your name wasn't on the list."

Qing Mengzhu said, "I've never farmed before, so I don't know how well I'll do. I'm afraid I'd have to pay compensation if I couldn't meet the terms of the contract, so I'm going to wait and see for now."

Hearing this, Tan Wenlei remarked, "You university students really are more cautious."

Qing Mengzhu said, "If I'm not careful, I'll lose money."

Tan Wenlei wholeheartedly agreed. "You're right. By the way, what are you planning to grow in this field? You've found someone to plow it, haven't you?"

Qing Mengzhu nodded. "Chili peppers."

"Chili peppers, huh?" Tan Wenlei said. "Then you'd better hurry. A lot of people growing peppers have already planted theirs this year, and my family has finished planting ours too."

Qing Mengzhu wasn't worried. "The weather's cold. A few days later is fine."

The villages had indeed already started planting chili peppers, and in many places the seedlings were nearly knee-high.

But those peppers were mostly grown under plastic film. Judging by the weather, the temperature actually wasn't high enough yet, and it wasn't time to plant peppers.

Farmers hurried to plant peppers in season mainly so they could get them to market earlier, when prices would be relatively higher.

However, peppers grown that way tasted somewhat worse than those grown in their natural season.

Qing Mengzhu wanted to improve the quality of his vegetables, so he planned to wait a little longer.

Besides, he didn't much like plastic film. According to the relevant planting guides, although it could smother weeds and pests to some extent and increase yields, film that aged in the ground would damage the soil and release harmful substances.

That didn't fit with his approach to farming.

Tan Wenlei had already seen that Qing Mengzhu was the kind of person who knew exactly what he wanted and didn't pay much attention to advice. Hearing this, he said no more on the subject and simply asked, "How many chili peppers are you planning to plant, and what vegetables?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "Three mu of chili peppers. I can't take care of any more than that on my own. I might plant vegetables on a little over half a mu, mainly for myself to eat."